The number of essentially pure fruit and vegetable juices, including juices which are prepared from concentrates, currently available in most grocery stores are limited when compared to the myriad and variety of fresh and canned fruits and vegetables available to consumers. Thus to increase the choices available to consumers, many fruit mixtures and blends have been placed on the market wherein high-fructose and corn syrup are the primary constituents. These have no counterparts in the fruit and vegetable domain. They are identified by product designations such as "punch," "cocktail," "thirst quencher," "beverage," "drink" and so forth. Unfortunately many of these beverages are essentially a combination of sugar, water and artificial flavorings, wherein the juice content is minimal. Although it is not uncommon for such beverages to be "enriched" with a variety of vitamins and minerals as therapeutic supplements to make them more nearly equivalent to a healthful drink, they do not have the same nutrient profiles as the original juices.
Accordingly, it will be appreciated that a problem exists due to the limited number of vegetable and fruit juices which are currently available in quantities adequate for the mass-market and, at the same time, attractive to a sufficiently large portion of the purchasing public, and further which have not been diluted with water, or have sugar or other added flavoring added to make them more palatable. The problem is aggravated inasmuch as some people are allergic to citrus products, which substantially limits the fruit juices available to them in the marketplace. There is also a significant portion of the population who suffer from diabetes and therefore should avoid products wherein various types of sugars have been added. This is not to represent that a variety of fruit and vegetable juices in their pure form are not commercially available to those who seek them. However, because their taste may be tart or otherwise sharp, such as, for example, pure cranberry juice, they are often available only in health food stores, or limited quantities may be available at more popular grocery stores in health food sections. Nevertheless, in large supermarkets, the need to provide foods to the public at attractive prices lead them to use their limited shelf space for varieties of vegetable and fruit juices for which there is a substantial demand. The result is a "Catch-22" situation because, unfortunately, agriculturalists are unlikely to establish orchards and vineyards, or otherwise plant and cultivate crops for the production of juices for which an adequate market does not exist. This has influenced the food industry to create new drinks which are mixtures of ingredients such as high fructose, corn syrup and flavors with minimal fruit context, and which do not require an existing agricultural base. The ultimate result has been that a major portion of supermarket shelf space for fruit and vegetable juices is devoted to beverages as described above which are essentially mixtures of high fructose, corn syrup, water and flavors.
There is thus a need for a greater variety of fruit and/or vegetable juice beverages which, at the same time, are wholesome, can be readily produced, have a pleasing flavors, and are satisfying, without the need to create an agricultural and production base that does not presently exist.